We don’t cover every one of Queen Elizabeth’s events. We never have, because many of those events are pretty boring and not very notable. Because of this job, I have been aware that QEII has been working a lot since returning from her long Balmoral summer holiday. The Daily Mail did a breakdown of how many events QEII crammed into just the past two weeks: she was seen out or hosting events in Windsor on 10 out of 14 days, and some of those days involved travel and back-to-back events. All in all, I do tend to believe that a 95-year-old woman would be legitimately tired after all of that, and her exhaustion would be reason enough to cancel the Northern Ireland trip at the last minute. But the Daily Mail’s coverage did add some new wrinkles:
The Queen is now resting at Windsor Castle and is still expected at this stage to attend events linked to the Cop26 event at the end of this month. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said in a statement issued shortly after 11am this morning: ‘The Queen has reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days. Her Majesty is in good spirits and is disappointed that she will no longer be able to visit Northern Ireland, where she had been due to undertake a series of engagements today and tomorrow. The Queen sends her warmest good wishes to the people of Northern Ireland, and looks forward to visiting in the future.’
A royal source said there was ‘no cause for caution’ about the Queen’s health – and her decision is understood not to be related to coronavirus. Her condition has not been revealed. The Queen is double-vaccinated, having been given her first jab by a household doctor at Windsor Castle on January 9 and her second at the end of March ahead of what was her first public appearance in five months. Buckingham Palace would not comment on whether the head of state had received her booster Covid-19 jab, but given her age it is likely she has already had it.
The Queen carried out 136 engagements in person or via videolink over 130 days last year despite the pandemic, with only Princess Anne (148 over 145 days) and Prince Charles (146 over 141 days) completing more.
Hm. I think Buckingham Palace’s reluctance to say whether or not QEII has gotten the booster shot probably means she has not. It was a big deal that the Queen even allowed her vaccine status to be confirmed at all, but I think if she had gotten the booster, surely they would just say that? Especially since the cancellation on the Northern Ireland trip really was last-minute, they knew that there was bound to be speculation.
There also seems to be a palpable ripple of concern that the Queen won’t be front-and-center in Glasgow for the UN climate conference which starts Oct. 31. China, Russia, Australia and India have not even RSVP’d, but other world leaders (like Joe Biden) will be there. I have two simultaneous thoughts: no one believes that Prince Charles acting-as-royal-headliner will have the same impact at COP26, and in addition to that, the Windsors were counting on “being seen” and being regarded as environmental heavyweights. It’s not that people are lining up to see the Queen, it’s that the Queen & the senior royals are desperate to be seen as legitimate figures in the world of environmental politics.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
The British Government believes everyone wants the Queen so she’s been put out there to play host at COP. The organizing of this event is said to be disaster and with some of leaders not going the Government needs the Queen to be there.
If she hasn’t already gotten her booster, she really should. She really should have Charles step in for her in Glasgow if she can’t do it. He at least has a little bit of gravitas compared to the other ones, who all of a sudden are looking to greener pastures through People magazine for their reputational green washing. I think Australia is finally attending but not sure about the others. If Joe Manchin gets his way, we’ll have very little if any climate legislation included in Biden’s bill.
I think Putin has said no but I only saw the headline. Now that his puppet/BFF isn’t around her won’t get the same degree of fawning acquiescence.
“It’s not that people are lining up to see the Queen, it’s that the Queen & the senior royals are desperate to be seen as legitimate figures in the world of environmental politics.”
Nope. Desperate to be seen, period.
I got my booster a week ago. I had no reaction to the first two jabs, but the booster has laid me low. Slight fever, headache, and an arm that I seriously considered chopping off at one point, it hurt so much. If you get a booster, pencil in some time off to be sore.
I don’t see why she wouldn’t have had it given that she was open about being vaccinated and recommended it to others. I didn’t know that she also went public when she had her kids vaccinated against polio back in the day to help persuade the everyone else to do the same.
I think they’re resting her up for Glasgow as that is way more important to the government than anything she has planned before then. Visits to Northern Ireland are always politically iffy too.
There is a weird desperation around the royals and the environment now, like they are all falling over themselves to get all of the environmentalism right. “no no, I’m the greenest! No I am! NO ITS ME!!!!!”